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KODIAK -- Two Kodiak High School graduates are making their mark in the movie industry.

Brothers Chris and Tim LeDoux, sons of Kodiak Island Borough School District Superintendent Larry LeDoux, live in Los Angeles and bring their talents to films including "Iron Man" and "Spiderman 3."

Chris, a 1997 graduate of KHS, was the first to break into the field. Tim, who graduated high school in 2001, joined his brother in L.A. two years ago. Both work in visual effects. Chris does mostly compositing while Tim's focus is on "crowd control."

CHRIS LEDOUX

Actors were filmed in the 2005 movie "Sin City" in front of a green screen for the entire movie, with only an occasional prop. Everything else in the movie — streets, buildings and other backgrounds — was completely computer generated. Chris was on the team responsible for the stunning visual effects.

"The hardest thing is to get your foot in the door," said Chris about his work in L.A. "I had a huge, lucky break."

"Sin City" was one of Chris' earliest projects after moving to Los Angeles. Other projects he has been involved with include "Pan's Labyrinth," ''Eragon," ''The Departed" and the blockbuster "Spiderman 3."

Chris' break came through a friend from Fairbanks who moved to Hollywood and was working in movies.

"I owe a lot to him," Chris said of Ben Grossmann.

Chris never intended to work in film. He was on track to reach his goal of becoming an industrial psychologist with degrees in psychology and sociology. He changed direction during his senior year in college when he got tired of waiting tables. He saw an ad for someone to make commercials.

"I might have fudged my resume a little to get the job," Chris admitted.

Chris had some experience with Photoshop and video editing, though not exactly what was needed. Most of what he learned was from a high school independent media studies course.

"People thought we were screwing around," Chris said. "But I made a career out of it."

In 2001, Chris started his freelance business, 360 Productions, now an advertising agency. He was working at a couple of television stations as production manager for commercials when he got a call from his friend asking him if he would be interested in working as a visual effects compositor on "Sin City."

"I'd never heard of it," he said of the movie, but that didn't stop him. He made the move to L.A. and worked hard to learn everything he needed for the job.

"It was a risk, 'cause I was pretty much set in Fairbanks," he said.

Chris said he spent nearly 24 hours a day at the studio, even sleeping there. To learn how to composit, he opened other people's work and broke it down to see how they had done it.

"'Sin City' was the most challenging, because I didn't know anything," Chris said. "I've never felt so stupid in my entire life."

The hard work paid off. Chris is now a sequence supervisor. His current project is a movie called "The Spirit," based on a graphic novel.

"It's going to be super, super cool," he said.

Chris said he is not able to discuss the film now, but did say it is nice to work on a good movie after being involved in some that, well, weren't so great — like "The Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift" and "Ghostrider."

"(Those were) nice little box office bombs," Chris said.

Chris hopes that "The Spirit" will put him on the directorial map. He has begun breaking into the field, directing music videos. His first music video was shot in November with a gothic band called Him. He has another, bigger shoot this weekend for the same band and will also do a video for the rapper Tech N9ne, among others.

Chris still owns a business in Fairbanks, an advertising agency with about 14 clients. His business partner handles much of the day-to-day duties, though Chris said he tries to spend a couple of months each year in Fairbanks.

Chris said he would like to return to Alaska and work on films based in or pertaining to his home state.

"It's sort of the place I feel I'm supposed to be," he said. "I definitely miss the Alaskan culture, and I definitely prefer it."

Not that L.A. has been as much of a culture shock as some might think, Chris said, though he has had some "weird experiences." Chris said he realized while at a party that he was the only person there without a therapist.

Chris has had the opportunity to meet some celebrities and was neighbor to retired professional basketball player Kareem Abdul Jabbar. In fact, when Chris' child was born, Jabbar brought over diapers and autographed cards.

Chris' 11-month-old child is another reason he wants to return to Alaska.

"I'd rather raise a kid there than here," he said.

Tim Ledoux

Like Chris, Tim attributes his breakthrough in the movie industry to his friend, Ben Grossmann. And just like his brother, movies were not something he intended to work in. In fact, calling himself an artist is a little odd to someone who has always worked and studied math and science.

Tim completed a degree in chemistry and a minor in computer arts. He had two semesters of graduate school behind him during which he also pursued chemistry, but decided to quit. Tim said he realized he wasn't pushing himself like he could and wanted to find something that would motivate him to work harder.

Originally, Tim said he moved to pursue acting, but accepted an internship working with Grossmann. Now, he works with a program called "Massive" — developed to create the large battles in the epic "Lord of the Rings" series — to create crowd images for movies. He also does some compositing work.

"I work a lot harder now than I ever worked in my life," Tim said.

Tim likes the competition of the field, and having to prove himself every day.

"It's a challenge for me," he said.

Tim doesn't put as much value on the work as some people do. He said he likes that it offers him a chance to be creative, but sometimes wishes he were doing something "more important."

Tim said he hopes in a few years to be more independent.

"I think this is a pretty common trait for Alaskans," Tim said. "We like to work for ourselves and make our own futures the best we can. I think Chris and I both want to be more free and creative with what we do in the future."

Tim said it is interesting to think of the lessons he and Chris learned from living in Alaska and brought with them to L.A.

"Alaskans as a whole are a tough people and hard workers. These traits are just as important in our industry as on a fishing boat," he said. "We take a lot of pride in our work and work ethic and I think that is an Alaskan trait."

Tim, like Chris, said L.A. hasn't been the culture shock some might expect. Besides, he said, the brothers work too much to be able to go out and take part in the nightlife much, though he does enjoy living by the coast.

Tim met the star of the "Into the Wild" based on a man's cross-country trek to Alaska. He met Emile Hirsch at a wrap party for another project and had to make sure he liked Alaska.

"He said he enjoyed it," Tim said.

Tim's current projects include compositing for "Iron Man," compositing and doing crowd work for M. Night Shyamalan's project "The Happening," and crowd work for "For One More Day," selected as an Oprah movie of the week.